Lest they Forget
During the Boer War in southern Africa general Kitchener goes further than his mandate and turns the concentration camps into fully fledged death camps.
Unfortunately for the British government a young and idealistic American reporter managed to get to the camps and take photos of the mass graves and executions.
When these reports and photographs reached America there was a backlash against the British with bans and embargoes being placed on Great Briton and her empire.
Unfortunately for the Boers none of the major powers were in a position to intervene militarily but they vowed they would not forget.
It didn’t help matter that the British government seeing that nobody formally moved against then refused to sanction anybody for the abuses against the Boers.
When the Boer war finally ended Britain had control of the Transvaal and Orange Free State but their foreign relations were in tatters.
Little did they know that their actions during the war would have consequences that in hind sight they would have done anything to avoid.
Over the next decade tensions continued to rise between the two main power blocks, The Entente and the Central Powers.
Matters were not helped by the naval race between Germany and Great Britain.
All it would take was one ill thought action that could spiral Europe into war.
The incident that ignited war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
The assassination sparked outrage in the Austro-Hungarian Empire who made unreasonable demands on Serbia.
Unfortunately for Europe the series of interlinked treaties started to come into effect.
Before long France and Russia had declared war on the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires and full scale war broke out.
When German invaded Belgium Great Britain too joined the war on the side of the Entente.
Little did the Entente know that Great Britain joining them in the war against the Central Power would have unforeseen consequences.
The Dutch had been harbouring high levels resentful feelings towards the British since the atrocities of the Boer War and when Great Britain joined the war on the side of the Entente then they joined on the side of the Central Powers.
The Dutch didn’t have large numbers of troops but those they did have could be used to help garrison Belgium.
Both their and their allies cause were improved when the Dutch speaking Wallons in Belgium through their lot in with their Dutch speaking fellows.
The Dutch actions freed up numerous German divisions from garrison duty and Feldmarshal Falkenberg took full advantage of this unexpected windfall of manpower and drove his armies deep into France from both A/L and from Belgium.
The Entente finally managed to halt the head long charge of the German Heer but not before they had captured the vital french ports past the choke point of the English channel.
The capture of these vital ports has severe ramifications for the Entente.
Not only could the Heer threaten supply ships coming from Great Britain with their long range artillery but now the u-boats and surface vessels of the Kaiserliche Marine could now be based out of these ports to threaten the vital trade that kept the French war industries operating.
During the Boer War in southern Africa general Kitchener goes further than his mandate and turns the concentration camps into fully fledged death camps.
Unfortunately for the British government a young and idealistic American reporter managed to get to the camps and take photos of the mass graves and executions.
When these reports and photographs reached America there was a backlash against the British with bans and embargoes being placed on Great Briton and her empire.
Unfortunately for the Boers none of the major powers were in a position to intervene militarily but they vowed they would not forget.
It didn’t help matter that the British government seeing that nobody formally moved against then refused to sanction anybody for the abuses against the Boers.
When the Boer war finally ended Britain had control of the Transvaal and Orange Free State but their foreign relations were in tatters.
Little did they know that their actions during the war would have consequences that in hind sight they would have done anything to avoid.
Over the next decade tensions continued to rise between the two main power blocks, The Entente and the Central Powers.
Matters were not helped by the naval race between Germany and Great Britain.
All it would take was one ill thought action that could spiral Europe into war.
The incident that ignited war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
The assassination sparked outrage in the Austro-Hungarian Empire who made unreasonable demands on Serbia.
Unfortunately for Europe the series of interlinked treaties started to come into effect.
Before long France and Russia had declared war on the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires and full scale war broke out.
When German invaded Belgium Great Britain too joined the war on the side of the Entente.
Little did the Entente know that Great Britain joining them in the war against the Central Power would have unforeseen consequences.
The Dutch had been harbouring high levels resentful feelings towards the British since the atrocities of the Boer War and when Great Britain joined the war on the side of the Entente then they joined on the side of the Central Powers.
The Dutch didn’t have large numbers of troops but those they did have could be used to help garrison Belgium.
Both their and their allies cause were improved when the Dutch speaking Wallons in Belgium through their lot in with their Dutch speaking fellows.
The Dutch actions freed up numerous German divisions from garrison duty and Feldmarshal Falkenberg took full advantage of this unexpected windfall of manpower and drove his armies deep into France from both A/L and from Belgium.
The Entente finally managed to halt the head long charge of the German Heer but not before they had captured the vital french ports past the choke point of the English channel.
The capture of these vital ports has severe ramifications for the Entente.
Not only could the Heer threaten supply ships coming from Great Britain with their long range artillery but now the u-boats and surface vessels of the Kaiserliche Marine could now be based out of these ports to threaten the vital trade that kept the French war industries operating.
